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 Brent futures climbed 46 cents to $39.60 a barrel as of 1000 GMT
after settling down $1.13 in the previous session.
U.S. crude rose 61 cents to $38.89 a barrel after ending Tuesday
down $1.11.
The dollar index fell, after slipping to an eight-day low in the
previous session on dovish comments by U.S. Fed Chair Janet Yellen
about possible interest rate rises.
A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated commodities cheaper for
holders of other currencies.
"One of the main reasons for Yellen’s dovish stance is the low oil
price and she made a direct reference to it," said Olivier Jakob
from Petromatrix consultancy.
"For Yellen, low oil prices are not only contributing to low
inflation expectations but they are a threat to global economic
growth due to the financial stress they are imposing on
oil-producing economies," Jakob said.
Oil prices fell about 3 percent in the previous session after Kuwait
and Saudi Arabia said they would resume production at the jointly
operated 300,000-barrels-per-day Khafji field even as major oil
producers consider an output freeze.
The freeze idea emerged after prices fell below $30 a barrel in
January from as high as $115 in June 2014 on global oversupply
spurred by U.S. production growth and rising output from oil
exporter group OPEC.
The International Energy Agency, which oversees energy policies of
industrialized nations, forecasts the global stock build to continue
this year.
But it said on Wednesday Iran was not adding as many barrels into
the market as expected despite the easing of international sanctions
against Tehran in January.
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"It was misleading to believe that there would be a huge amount of
new Iranian crude and natural gas production entering the market in
the short term," Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director, told
Reuters.
OPEC member Iran is expected to attend an oil producers meeting in
Doha on April 17 to discuss the proposed freeze, although it may not
take part in the talks.
Later on Wednesday, the U.S. government releases official crude
inventory data. [EIA/S]
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, on Tuesday said
U.S. crude stocks likely rose last week by 2.6 million barrels to
534.4 million barrels, which would be a new record high for a
seventh straight week.
(Additional reporting by Keith Wallis in Singapore; Editing by Dale
Hudson)
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